Jefferson Students Create With Inventor Software

Jefferson Middle School seventh and eighth-graders are learning more about 3D drafting by using the Autodesk Inventor software during Ted Hoca’s Technology Education class. Autodesk Inventor is a professional-grade software program that provides engineers and designers a solution for 3D mechanical design, simulation, visualization and documentation.

“There are so many different options and ways you can create the objects and designs in Inventor,” said Jefferson Middle School eighth-grader Camden Austin. “It is what other people in the real world are using for a drafting program. I’m interested in a science or engineering career so even if I don’t use this exact program later, I might use a lot of the same techniques.”

Students in Mr. Hoca’s class learn how to use Autodesk Inventor to create 2D and 3D objects and combining 2D and 3D objects into one drawing on the computer. Students receive an introduction to technical drawing that reinforces many math concepts such as perpendicular and parallel lines and geometric shapes. Students also learn the difference between 2D and 3D objects and looking at objects from different directions.

“It’s a great program to use with classes because every student learns differently but I see progression in learning the program and the concepts in every student when they use Inventor,” said Mr. Hoca. “The program is great to help students become better at problem-solving too. It is the program that’s used out in the real-world so it’s great that our students have an opportunity to learn the basics in middle school.”

Students also use Autodesk Inventor in Mr. Hoca’s class to learn dimensioning, planning and drawing a sketch, extruding 3D shapes and eventually learning to do a cut (creating any shape they want) versus a placed (only the shapes the program allows) feature on a drawing. In Mr. Hoca’s Technology Education class, students also learn about system models and how resources are used to meet human needs and wants.

“It’s fun to use Inventor,” said Jefferson Middle School seventh-grader Sean O’Brien. “You get to build diverse objects and shapes and everything these days is built off a sketch board like we do in Inventor so it’s a good skill to know.”